After last weeks performance against Blackburn I can’t say that I went into a match against Stoke, at Stoke, with a load of confidence. Yes we beat Rovers, but Christ it was extremely difficult and also partly due to the courtesy of that Croatian with shots that didn’t exactly scream 6 million quid at you. We got mauled at set pieces, Fulop couldn’t hold a ball for toffee or any other confectionary and they did put the ball in our net 3 times, even if 2 were ruled out. All in all I was ready for what I thought would be a shit day.
Thankfully the trip down was a quick and uneventful one. I had been given about 20 different ways of getting down, each being the quickest of course, but I opted for the good old sat-nav as the safest option. The ground is not half as interesting as the ground it’s built upon. From some angles it looks gargantuan and from others it looks no bigger than Craven Cottage. Built the same year as our own stadium, its one of these grounds that’s put in the middle of an industrial park, literally it appears as soon as you come off the motorway. I’ve always preferred the stadiums that are just on the outskirts of the city centre. Don’t even get me started on the soul churning name of the thing.
The pub that just about everyone ended up inside given that it was really the only place to go was canny. Even if they ran out of pint glasses momentarily…anyhow, I digress. We got talking to a couple of Stoke fans who were chuffed about the proposed deal for Collins, rightly so. I really don’t understand that move if there is any substance in it. Not yet anyhow. Stoke has this old reputation of being a dodgy place to go in the past, but I must say that they were some of the friendlier fans I’ve met.
To the game and the line up struck fear in my heard before a ball was even on show. Gordon in between the sticks, Nozza (give him to Stoke instead), Ferdinand, Bardsley and McCartney making up the defence, Cana, Cattermole, Richardson and Malbranque in the middle with the usual duo of Jones and Bent in attack. The game started as predictably as you would like it: Stoke hoofing the ball down the channels to the corners, inviting a tackle and then giving it to Delap. We did try and pass it about and succeeded at times, but you could see playing against the land of the giants was causing issues. We did have a 20 minute spell of domination where a few good blocks kept Bent at bay and he nearly put us ahead but just curled it the wrong side of the post.
It had 0 – 0 written all over the first 45 minutes, that was until Stoke won a corner, it came out and then back into the box and wasn’t cleared in time to prevent Kitson poking a foot at it and giving Stoke the lead. That was it for me, even if we weren’t half as crap as last year but really, what benchmark is that? The second half was a carbon copy of the first. McCartney never looked comfortable, Jones was winning the headers but I really saw only twice we latched onto a second ball. The long throw game was causing havoc and set pieces seem to be an issue for us. We did create some attacking moves but all seemed as impotent as the last. I said before the game if could take a point then I would have snapped your hand off, after 45 minutes I would have taken your arm off. It was typical Stoke, awful game to watch but they play to their strengths and would we complain if it meant points? As seen as though half of them are ex-Sunderland we might have two teams to support come the end of the January transfer window.
Man of the Match: Lorik for me, played Stoke at their own game and got stuck in and ran for 90 minutes.
Moan of the Match: The lad beside me that argued that only 1 of Stokes players was 6 foot plus when that test tube abomination Faye is about 8 foot tall and wide on his own.
Jonothan Scollen
